Benjamin Speed

Benjamin Speed
Also known as	Mister Speed
Born	1979
Origin	Adelaide, Australia
Genres	Indie Pop, Hip Hop, Electronica, Film Music, Alternative, Experimental
Occupation(s)	Songwriter, Composer, Producer
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Creative Vibes, Groovescooter, ABC
Associated acts	The New Pollutants, Metropolis Rescore
Website	benjaminspeed.com

Benjamin Peter Speed (born 27 June 1979 in Adelaide, South Australia) is an Australian musician who composes scores for film, television and theatre. He performs and records as Mister Speed and was vocalist and songwriter in the Australian alternative, electronic and hip hop band The New Pollutants.

Growing up in Adelaide, Speed graduated with an honours degree in Music Technology from the Elder Conservatorium of Music at Adelaide University and has a Masters Degree in Screen Composing from the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) in Sydney.

Music

Early Career & The New Pollutants: 2000–2005

Speed started making computer based music in 1998 and put on solo shows in Adelaide alongside Ben Frost in 2000. He performed at the Adelaide Fringe Festival and This Is Not Art Festivals, supported Anticon on their Australian tour and released two 'Speed Presents' EPs as Mr Tappin' Fresh and The Other Half. In 2001 Speed met electronic musician Tyson Hopprich (DJ Tr!p) and in 2001 they formed The New Pollutants.

From 2002 to 2004 they released a full-length album, Hygene Atoms, a 12" EP Urban Professional Nightmares and a 7" single Sid-Hop. The New Pollutants sound traversed through a number of different genres including lo-fi, trip hop, electro, Commodore 64 music, 1950s and 1960s pop, comedy, alternative hip hop and electronica. The New Pollutants were musically aligned with such Australian acts such as Curse Ov Dialect, The Herd, Music Vs Physics, TZU and MKB.

The New Pollutants played at Australian festivals such as the Falls Festival in 2004/5, Big Day Out in 2003 and were headliners of the 2004 Adelaide Fringe Festival opening concert. In 2004 the group was voted Most Popular Dance Act by DB Magazine readers. The group also played on Triple J Radio's Mix-Up during the Amnesty Freedom Festival in 2004, Adelaide University O'Ball 2003 & Newcastle's This Is Not Art (TINA) Festival in 2002.

Mister Speed: The Dreamer 2006–2007

After moving to Sydney in 2006, Speed signed to Creative Vibes record label and released his debut solo album The Dreamer in 2007. The album was based on hip hop, indie rock, pop, world music, electronica, reggae and experiemtal genres. A review in the Sydney Morning Herald described the album by saying "The opening sounds like a scene from The Godfather; it closes with a hybrid of hip-hop rock. In between there are snippets of 1950s French soundtracks, moody trip-hop and multiple samples. The vocals sway between Beck and Buck 65, moving from the philosophy of art to observations of love."

The Dreamer became a feature album on FBi Radio (NSW), Three D Radio (SA), 3PBS (Vic) and Edge Radio (Tas) and the song Everybody Needs Somebody was put up on the Triple J website for exclusive download.

Film

Metropolis Rescore

In 2004 as The New Pollutants, Speed composed and produced a new soundtrack to the silent film Metropolis with Hopprich and premiered it at the 2005 Adelaide Film Festival. The live performance also featured actor/singer Astrid Pill as vocalist and musician Zoe Barry as cellist. The soundtrack has been described as "an infectious and unique approach ranging from Germanic trip hop and lo-fi electronica to unforgettable classical and breathtaking cinematica." Metropolis has subsequently performed at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), as a part of the 2006 Commonwealth Games Cultural Festival and at the 2006 Perth Revelations Film Festival. In 2010, it was performed at the Sydney Opera House and was also played at the 2011 Mona Foma Festival in Tasmania. Since then, a newly updated score is being composed to the 2010 restoration version which has an extra 30 minutes of footage originally thought lost. The updated score was premiered at the 2011 Adelaide Film Festival

The People's Republic Of Animation

In 2005, Speed composed for the first of many collaborations with The People's Republic of Animation (PRA) in a series called Errorism: A Comedy of Terrors. He received the Best Original Score award at the 2006 St Kilda Film Festival for the animated short Carnivore Reflux, a film that was also a 2006 Tropfest finalist. In 2007 Speed composed for the animated short music-film Sweet and Sour which premiered at both the Adelaide Film Festival and the Shanghai International Film Festival in 2007 and has since won multiple awards and played at numerous international film festivals. He composed music for the winning 2008 Tropfest Supershort Series film Safer In A Wild World, which was also chosen for official competition in the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in France. In 2009, Speed composed the music for The Cat Piano which features Nick Cave as narrator and in 2010 won an APRA/AGSC Award for his work on The PRA's children's series Itty Bitty Ditties.

Other Work

Speed composed for the 2008 Tropfest finalist film Glass and the 2011 Tropfest Finalist The Maestro. He did the feature film The Tumbler, which premiered at the 2008 Perth Revelations Film Festival, and was selected for the 2008 São Paulo International Film Festival and has scored feature documentaries A Northern Town in 2008, which was nominated for a Dendy Award at the 2008 Sydney Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2008 Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards, and The Snowman in 2010, which won the Australian Documentary Prize and was nominated for an AFI Award.

Filmography

Title	Director / Producers	Format	Release year
OK, Lets Talk About Me	Closer Productions & SBS	TV documentary	2005
Metropolis Rescore	The New Pollutants	feature film rescore project	2005
Errorism: A Comedy of Terrors - Series 1	Eddie White & The PRA	short animation	2005
As Long As I'm Rollin'	Jackson Pellow & Film Australia	short documentary	2005
Carnivore Reflux	Eddie White, James Calvert & The PRA	short animation	2006
The Catch	Yasemin Sabuncu — The Feast Festival	short film	2006
Birth	Paul Leeming & The Sydney Film School	short film	2006
Errorism: A Comedy of Terrors - Series 2	Eddie White & The PRA	short animation	2006
Ayen’s Cooking School for African Men	Sieh Mchawala, Vida Films & SBS	TV documentary	2007
Sweet and Sour	Eddie White, The PRA & Shanghai Animation Film Studio	short animation	2007
Fruitloop	Kyra Bartley	short film	2007
Mitsubishi Lancer "Safer In A Wild World"	Eddie White, James Calvert & The PRA	TV Commercial	2007
Who Wants to Be A Celebrity Chef	Rose Aldahn / AFTRS	short documentary	2007
Everyday Heroes	AFTRS TV Department	TV Magazine	2007
Purgatory	Natalie Polomo (Exec Prod) & AFTRS Year of 2007	4 part TV mini series	2007
The Ghastly Gourmet Cooking Show	James Calvert, The PRA & Nickelodeon Channel	short animation TV pilot	2008
I Was A Teenage Butterfly	Eddie White, The PRA & Nickelodeon Channel	short animation TV pilot	2008
Glass	Jayne Montague / Windermere Blue Films	short film	2008
A Northern Town	Rachel Landers, Dylan Blowen, Pony Films & SBS	feature documentary	2008
The Tumbler	Marc Gracie, Stacey Testro, Mondayitis & Ztudio	feature film	2008
Street Angel	Lucas Testro / AFTRS	short film	2008
Vafadar	Amin Palangi / AFTRS	short film	2008
Death In The Garden	Michael Chrisoulakis	short film	2009
The Cat Piano	Eddie White, Ari Gibson & The PRA	short animation	2009
The Snowman	Juliet Lamont & Pony Films	feature documentary	2009
The Mystery Of Flying Kicks	Matthew Bate & Plexus Films	short documentary	TBA
52 Tuesdays	Sophie Hyde/Closer Productions	feature film	2014

Awards and nominations

Film

Year	Award / Festival	Category	Film	Result
2010	APRA/AGSC Screen Music Awards	Best Music For A Children's Series	Itty Bitty Ditties	Won
2010	APRA/AGSC Screen Music Awards	Best Music For A Documentary	The Snowman	Nominated
2009	APRA/AGSC Screen Music Awards	Best Music For A Short Film	The Cat Piano	Nominated
2009	MPSE, USA Golden Reel Awards	Verna Fields Award	Street Angel	Nominated
2006	St. Kilda Film Festival	Best Original Score	Carnivore Reflux	Won

Music

Year	Award	Category	Result
2011	APRA PDA Awards	Film And Television	finalist (TBA)
2009	APRA PDA Awards	Film And Television	finalist
2005	Education & Arts Ministers' Awards (SA)	Excellence in Arts Education (Artists: The New Pollutants)	Won
2004	dB Magazine Awards	Most Popular Dance Act (The New Pollutants)	Nominated
2004	South Australian Music Industry (SAMI) Award	Most Popular Electronic / Dance Act (The New Pollutants)	Won
2003	dB Magazine Awards	Most Popular Dance Act (The New Pollutants)	Won

Discography

• Speed Presents: Mr Tappin' Fresh EP 2001
• Speed Presents: The Other Half Of Humanity EP 2001
• The New Pollutants - Hygene Atoms 2002
• The New Pollutants - Sid Hop 7" 2004
• The New Pollutants - Urban Professional Nightmares 2004
• The New Pollutants - Metropolis Rescore 2005
• Mister Speed - The Dreamer 2007
• Benjamin Speed - Street Angel (Soundtrack) 2009

Compilations and Collaborations

• DJ Tr!p - Various: Right (2002)
• DJ Tr!p - Various: Acute (2002)
• DJ Tr!p - Various: Reflex (2002)
• SubFM - La Trobe University - The Fine Line (2002)
• Surgery Records - 2002A2D: Analogue 2 Digital (2002)
• Semikazi Collective - 2002 Compilation (2002)
• DJ Tr!p - Paintbox Compilation 12" (2003)
• 3D Radio - Depth Charge 3 (2003)
• MISA - Sounds of MISA Volume 2: Setlist (2003)
• ABC — Sound Quality Volume 2: Approved for Export (2003)
• Soobiesta - Straight Out Of Brisbane (2004)
• 52Nd Sydney Film Festival - Music for Film: Cults Classics Curios (2005)
• Blank Tapes CD Sampler 5a & 5b (2005)
• Cyclic Defrost Presents: Interesting Music from Australia (2005)
• Mythical Records - Odyssey of Rapture vol.1 (2008)

See also

• List of Australian composers
• List of people from Adelaide

External links

• Official Site
• The Dreamer on Creative Vibes
• Interview in Cyclic Defrost Magazine by Chris Downton
• Interview in IF - Australian Film Magazine